Croping and resizing

[EOS_JD]

I only lower the res to 150 ppi if I print on my printer. Sorry should have explained that better. I use the resizing info from the PS CS2 book by Scott Kelby. I go into image size, uncheck the Resample Image box and then enter 150 in resolution box (its usually at 72). If I have a huge print, it may be 27"x42" or whatever and this allows me to size it way down without the softness. If its to a lab, I do increase the ppi much more. You mentioned poster size prints- this book has an awesome chapter on rule-breaking resizing for poster-size prints. I've done it in CS2 and it looks impressive, but I have not had a print made.
Sorry for the earlier confusion!

This is not good practice. 150ppi is way too low a ppi value for anything smaller than A3. Your 30D produces large files and can print at 180ppi A3+ (19x13)

I have the Kelby book - Look at the section on creating your own custom crops. 300ppi is the standard print resolution and will make your images look a lot better. I only go lower once the default resolution doesn't allow me to print at less and I rarely upsample unless the default is below 180ppi.

What size of images do you print at 150ppi? I'd be interested to know.

 

[EOS_JD]

Find your original image size. They are NOT all the same. Mine is 4368 px by 2904 px.
What you want to look at is the size in inches. Mine is 14.56 x 9.68. YMMV.

Using your crop tool, plug in the numbers your full size photo is, and then crop. This will leave you with a full sized crop. A full sized crop will give you 4x6, 8x12, most 5x7 and 11x14. You need to leave extra space for 8x10 or 20x24. Play with the crops and you can "eyeball" it after a while.

Elsa
Just a wee point. Looking at the size in inches isn't helping much when you look at the "image size" as the print size will depend on the resolution (ppi) setting. Your resolution above is 300ppi. Not everyone's is set at this as a default.

As you note Using the crop tool is the best way to resize. However I'm not sure what you mean by full size crop? A full size crop is 4x6, 6x9, 8x12 etc.

5x7 & 11x14 are different ratio so you'll have to crop off a part of your full sized image to getr these sizes.

With small sizes up to around A4 you can enter 300ppi and the image will be ready for printing. For larger images I leave resolution blank and print at the default resolution (usually not letting it go below around 180ppi).

As you say also, set the crop tool to the size you need and you can move it around the image to suit.

Do you see what I mean? I know you know what you're doing but you kind of confused me a bit

Regards
Jim

 

[fotogenik]

Anyone ever take a 4x6 image and just add canvas to make it a 8x10 photo? It will have borders on it but if you do it correctly you can get a very nice looking image without losing any of the image.

 

[EOS_JD]

Yes I've posted a few examples on here doing that. You can put text in the border at the bottom and it can be a nice effect however it's best to give yourself some room when you shoot so you have a choice.

 

[Garrentee]

hey fotogenic...how do u do that with a canvas?

 

[Big Mike]

I think what they are saying, is that you could make your file/image 8x10 inches...but the image would be 4x6 inches, inside of that, with blank space around it.

It's essentially the same idea as using a matte in a frame...except that it's all printed rather than mounting a photo onto the matte.

 

[fotogenik]

yeah thats basically the idea. Photo Framers I have worked with like the idea also because it gives them blank area to place the matte material with clearly defined areas that should and should not be covered by the matte material.

Basically just go to umm edit>canvas and put in the dimensions you want the final area of the print to be (like put in 8x10 for a 5x7 image and you will have a border of your currently chosen background color around your image.

 

[EOS_JD]

Not what I'd normally do but here is a 7x5 image in a 10x8 frame.

 

[suefoto]

I use Picassa 2 to do all my cropping. It is very useful when I have a lot of 4" x 6"s to get printed. I export my files to a temporary folder and onto my cd for processing.